UN Report On Montserrat

UN report on the Montserrat Eruption

Introduction ·      Describe the location of Montserrat (continent, country, local area) The Soufriere Hills is a volcano located on the island of Montserrat, in the Caribbean. The island of Montserrat is located in the range of the destructive plates, the Caribbean and North American Plate. Is it part of the Andellies Island Arc and is nestled between Guadeloupe and St Kittis and Nevis Island ·      List the dates of the eruption The eruptions begun during July 1995, the volcano began to quiet down, then in July 1997, Montserrat erupted again. July 1999 was the third time that Montserrat erupted and in September 2000, Montserrat erupted again. ·      Primary impacts -People were injured or killed -Crops were destroyed -Buildings and infrastructure were damaged or destroyed -Much of the landscape was destroyed -Roads blocked by lava and rock -Power lines and telecommunication lines knock down ·      Secondary impacts -    Physiological distress due to loss or death of family -    Starvation due to lack of resources -    Businesses suffered due to the fact that buildings were destroyed -    Major loss in the tourism industry -    Aid and rescue cannot be given as soon as possible -    Electricity and communications will be down

Main discussion: Use the PEE Chain (point-evidence-explain) ·      How was the Montserrat eruption managed? Firstly, when the impending hazards were threatening the lives of the citizens of Montserrat, law enforcement evacuated the public, this can be seen when Plymouth and the south parts of the island were evacuated. Also, an extensive seismographic measure was set up around the island to detect earthquakes, which may forewarn an eruption. Satellites were used to track aerial views of the volcanoes condition. Rainwater was collected and it’s PH level was collected to determine the concentration of volcanic gases in the air. Finally geologists would fly to the volcano to conduct an inspection of the volcano    ·      What was effective (worked well) about the management strategy? What worked well was the evacuation method when the volcanic hazards were dangerously close to the towns and villages this reduces the rate of human death and injury. Also, the rainwater collection worked well because volcanic gases usually are released before and eruption and a high concentration of them may indicate an eruption. ·      What was ineffective (did not work well)? Why? What I feel is ineffective are the intrusion zones, people returned back to their homes in the danger zone and when the Soufriere hills erupted again in June 1997, 19 people were killed. The blame falls on human error, by not being able to maintain the intrusion zones well enough causing the death of those people

Conclusion ·      Your decision about how effectively Monserrat was managed I felt that Montserrat was fairly well managed, due the fact that not many people were killed during the eruption and they were able to use all these methods such as PH level testing, satellites etc. And will all future eruptions, there were no records of loss of human life, This proves that the management worked well and the rate of human life loss was reduced in the future eruptions after the main eruption ·      What lessons can be learnt from this example? Plan in advance, learn from past mistakes, be able to prepare before an event happens, try our best to manage the hazards of an impending event to minimize death and damage ·      Can we manage volcanic hazards? Why? Why not? I feel that we can manage volcanic hazards with advance planning and learning from past error and mistakes. By learning of what we did wrong in the past, we can correct on so in future the volcanic hazards will be more easily manageable. Also, with knowledge of how, why and when the volcanic hazards appear, makes us better prepared should the hazards happen again in the near future

Can we effectively manage hazards?

I feel that we can manage hazards with advance planning and learning from past error and mistakes. By learning of what we did wrong in the past, we can correct on so in future the hazards will be more easily manageable. Also, with knowledge of how, why and when the hazards appear, makes us better prepared should the hazards happen again in the near future